Dion won’t stand with Layton: lets Harper get away with immigration changes

It’s no longer possible to defend their irresponsible hypocrisy, but that doesn’t stop Stephane Dion from trying.

After weeks of criticizing it (as well as facing criticism from immigrant groups), Liberal MPs once more backed down from the prospect of defeating the Conservatives over C-50 - the bill to let the Conservatives hand pick immigrants – and let the bill pass.

In his defence, the embattled Liberal leader made the incredibly irresponsible suggestion that the Conservatives’ recent screw ups are justification for keeping the Harper in 24 Sussex far longer than anyone ever expected he would be.

"But Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion noted that the political gift of Bernier's resignation would never have happened if, several weeks ago, he'd brought down the government as some in his party urged him to do."

Dion's line is akin to saying “I keep a loaded revolver in the kids’ play room because I want them to learn that guns are dangerous.”

The fact Dion blithely skims over is that if he had allowed his MPs to vote with the NDP and end the Conservatives government long ago, Harper wouldn’t be able to pass legislation like the bill to politicize immigration -- the bill Liberals say they are opposed to but let pass anyway.

So while the Liberals are in the mood to be honest, is it too much to ask that they go the extra step of admitting the other reason they want Harper to remain prime minister is this, and this, and maybe, just maybe, to punish Canadians for having dared to defeat the Paul Martin government in the first place? Just askin'.

Purely as a public service, the following Liberal MPs who promised to stand up to Harper didn't last night against C-50 at report stage:

Alghabra, Omar
Bagnell, Larry
Bains, Navdeep Singh
Barnes, Sue
Beaumier, Colleen
Bélanger, Mauril
Bell, Don
Bennett, Carolyn
Bevilacqua, Maurizio
Bonin, Raymond
Boshcoff, Ken
Brison, Scott
Brown, Bonnie
Byrne, Gerry
Cannis, John
Chan, Raymond
Coderre, Denis
Cotler, Irwin
Cullen, Roy
Cuzner, Rodger
D'Amours, Jean-Claude
Dhaliwal, Sukh
Dhalla, Ruby
Dosanjh, Ujjal
Dryden, Ken
Easter, Arnold Wayne
Eyking, Mark
Folco, Raymonde
Fry, Hedy
Godfrey, John Ferguson
Guarnieri, Albina
Holland, Mark
Hubbard, Charles
Kadis, Susan
Karetak-Lindell, Nancy
Keeper, Tina
LeBlanc, Dominic
Lee, Derek Vincent
MacAulay, Lawrence A.
Malhi, Gurbax Singh
Maloney, John
Marleau, Diane
Martin, Keith P.
Martin, Paul Edgar Philippe
Matthews, Bill
McGuinty, David J.
McGuire, Joe
McKay, John Norman
McTeague, Dan
Milliken, Peter Andrew Stewart
Minna, Maria
Murphy, Brian
Murphy, Shawn
Murray, Joyce
Neville, Anita
Pacetti, Massimo
Patry, Bernard
Pearson, Glen
Ratansi, Yasmin
Regan, Geoff
Rodriguez, Pablo
Rota, Anthony
Russell, Todd Norman
Savage, Michael John
Scarpaleggia, Francis
Scott, Andy
Sgro, Judy
Silva, Mario
Simard, Raymond
Simms, Scott
St. Amand, Lloyd
St. Denis, Brent
Steckle, Paul Daniel
Stronach, Belinda
Szabo, Paul John Mark
Temelkovski, Lui
Thibault, Robert
Tonks, Alan
Valley, Roger
Volpe, Joe
Wappel, Tom
Wilfert, Bryon
Wrzesnewskyj, Borys
Zed, Paul